It Was A Priviledge Just To Be Near That

From June 22 - July 4, Phil went adventuring across the world, first to China, then a quick swing by Thailand to visit our dear friends, the Mills (aka the Millses).

When Phil told me he really wanted to go on the China trip this summer, my deep and spiritual thought on the subject was "Oh, no, here we go. That is just how Tim and Rhianna started out." Though I'm certainly of the "if God calls you, best if you answer" mindset, at present I'm much more interested in God calling me to read a good novel with a cup of tea than to pack my bags for China, selfless soul that I am.

Well, Phil enjoyed the trip immensely, but has yet to have any angelic visions telling him we must go... I'll keep you posted. I'll share some of my favorite highlights from Phil's journal.

My long-awaited trip to China has arrived. As I write, I'm sitting in seat 40B of a 747. I've already learned a couple of things. One is that I'm apparently really, really bad at Su Do Ku. In fact, the "Extra Hot" book I bought is way out of my league. Another learning is that 13.5 hours is a long, long time to be on a plane. At IAD, we had a fairly tight connection, but we were only about 200 feet from the gate for the flight to PEK. We were all very excited to get on board, which wore off quickly after lunch. The 4 (!) movies selections were (I'm not kidding):

• Wild Hogs
  
• Shooter
  
• The Painted Veil
  
• Bridge to Terebithia

Snore.

I am thrilled to be going on this trip. I'm full of anticipation over seeing another culture and seeing the way God is working. I'm looking forward to giving my nascent Chinese a go for real. The man on my left on the plane is a Chinese national, who very nicely complimented me. :-)

Upon landing, we crowded into a bus and went to the hotel. My first impression of China: Holy smog, Batman! You couldn't see more than about 1/4 mile because of the polution. There are construction cranes everywhere, and smog is part of the price paid for economic development.

The group went to the government-sanctioned "Three Self" or "Agape" church service. I understood about 1 word in 10, but not much real meaning at all outside of "God's plan" and "God's time" plus a recitation of the Lord's Prayer. After the service... we spoke with several people including the pastor and some students. This was in a mixture of Chinese and English. I should mention the taxi rides to and from the place where the church is located. The first one was like a video game as we careened through traffic. Apparently it is quite rude to put on a seatbelt in a cab, but I really wanted to. I resisted.

The discovery of a wedding band on my finger generated a flood of conversation, mostly among the 3 masseuses.

Our second walk was around a park on top of one of the two high hills.... The first hill has some very, very old architecture. It also has a long history of pagan religious significance, going back to the predecessors of the modern Chinese people. There was even an old altar in a cave near the top. Both hills have modern statues that incorporate communist ideals with the strange old spiritualism.

To catch a bus to our next location, we crossed another busy road, this one much much more dangerous. I tripped on the curb at the median, narrowly avoiding becoming a taxi's hood ornament. Incredibly, an unleashed dog crossed right after we did, including a pause at the median to wait for the traffic to clear.

Lunch was at a Chinese fast-food place, where we think we ate some chicken neck.

During this cab ride, there was a hilarious incident with some gum. I was riding with Amy, Sara and Keith. I've been bumming gum off Amy the whole trip, and I can't stand it when it loses its flavor. So, I half-jokingly wondered aloud whether I could spit it into another moving car from ours while on the expressway. Then Sara escalated the situation by saying those 3 little words: "I dare you." What was I to do? I spit out the gum. It went out the window. it flew back in the window. It flew by Keith's ear. It stuck on the dash. The three of us in the back have never laughed so hard. Keith had to act somewhat dignified, as the cabbie did not seem nearly as amused. When we arrived (at the wrong place) 10 minutes later, I apologized to her in Chinese and tipped her 5 Yuan. She grinned.

Well, it's 3:15 am in Bangkok, but I'm here! Good friends are good friends no matter how long it has been. Tim is the same as always, and a real trooper to wait this long for me. Fortunately, he knew my flight had been delayed. He had a bottle of water for me in his bag.

Boy, am I exhausted! Tim had a very full day planned for us... I'll never forget it.

I got in a Taxi a little after 9 am and got Rhianna to give the driver directions to Tim's office over the phone. Tim had an early meeting, but the plan was to go with him and some other friends in a van to Khao Yai, a Thai national park. Our plan was to hike to 2 waterfalls. On the way to the first one, we saw some macacques - monkeys. We had brought some fruit for them, and they got real close... We saw some at the end of the day, too, and one of them took fruit right out of my hand!

The park's signature feature is its elephant herds. As the sun set on our drive out of the park, there they were! A herd of about 10, only about 10-20 yards away. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Tim very graciously accompanied me to the airport, and like a spoiled American tourist, I paid $274 for a business closs upgrade for the BKK-NRT portion of the trip. I couldn't justify another $524 for the NRT-SFO leg. Too bad. I have fortified myself with a few of Rhianna's chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies, which are every bit as good as I remembered. Should be OK.

I'll sign off this very long post with some pictures of something highly amusing that Phil took from one of his Chinese hotel rooms. Here is Andrew being attacked by a pair of "Magical Man Pants."